Mr & Mrs Smith

NB City

Adelaide, Australia

Beyond the front courtyard of NB City sits an immaculately renovated stone terrace, with a living room, bedroom, home office, bathroom, kitchen and outdoor entertaining area – perfect for a romantic Adelaide break or naughty weekend. The townhouse is compact, but creative design makes the most of the available space. Contemporary colours (aubergine, teak, mushroom and chalk-white), savvy technology (flatscreen TVs, iPod dock, Foxtel and BOSE stereo) and urban taste (MOMA prints, Asian knickknacks) elevate the clever lay out to a sophisticated plane. This is a haven to hide away in, catch your breath, get your bearings and rejuvenate – a discreet, shapely bolthole where you can close the door on stress and go barefoot on the rugs.

Need to know

• Rates information AU$220 for first night; AU$195 per subsequent night.
• Ideal for A single guest or a couple.
• Sleeps 2-4
• Property style A total renovation of this 1880s terrace house has seen it transformed from a poky workers’ cottage into a slick, light-filled, modern apartment-style house with a tasteful palette of white, mushroom and aubergine, timber and stainless steel.
• Grounds Petite – a little front courtyard and rear outdoor entertainment area – but like the interior spaces they’re designed to maximise light and functionality.
• Minimum hire One night.
• Children Welcome, although they'll have to bed down in the living room and space for playing outdoors is fairly limited. More...
• Booking process A deposit may be required to confirm your reservation, either by credit card when booking or within seven days.
• Also Non-smoking throughout; pets not allowed.

Floor plan

• Bedrooms

  The bedroom is at the heart of NB City – right in the middle of the building, away from any street noise. Tasteful contemporary prints, a flatscreen TV and a large leather-framed mirror adorn the walls, with a sheepskin rug on the floor for those few mornings Adelaide actually gets chilly. A lacquered Chinese cabinet adds a hint of Eastern chic, complementing the rich chocolate hues of the bedspread. A small door opens onto the lightwell if you want to check out the stars. If you need more bed space for extra bods, the couch in the living room converts into a double bed. Beyond the office area just outside the bedroom door, NB City’s cute little bathroom is a slick slice of design, with mushroom-coloured wall tiles and white river stones cast into the concrete floor. Like the bedroom, the shower faces onto the lightwell so you can check the weather while you work up a lather. Roger & Gallet toiletries abound.

• Kitchen NB City’s functional kitchen is at the back of the property, opening onto the rear courtyard. It’s a casual, contemporary space with smart cabinetry housing an array of culinary support systems: a larder, pots-and-pans drawers, Delonghi espresso machine, wine rack, dishwasher, European laundry and wall-mounted oven and microwave. And, if you need some inspiration, you can watch the celebrity chef of your choice on the Samsung TV on the wall. Consume your efforts at the island bench or outside in the courtyard.
• Living room The first room you encounter as you enter NB City from the front courtyard is the living room: a full-width space decked out with a chocolate-coloured leather couch, suede armchairs, a huge wall-hung flatscreen TV, DVD player and a gas log fire. Twin bookshelves corral an engaging library of cookbooks, photographic journals and more Ian Rankin, John le Carré and James Lee Burke novels than you could point a bookmark at. Mod-Asian touches like a vase of peacock feathers, a basket of faux pomegranates, an elephant sculpture and Chinese artefacts are equally distracting. A bonus? The couch folds into a double bed for that unexpected guest or the kids.
• Dining room There’s no dining room here as such, but plenty of places to enjoy your home-cooked meal. Head for the couch in the front room and kick back in front of the big screen, or if the weather’s good, the outdoor table in the rear courtyard is perfect for morning coffee and newspapers, a long, languorous summer dinner or just a glass of wine. If it’s breakfast on the run, prop yourself on a stool at the island bench in the kitchen.
• Gardens Out the back of NB City is a cute, petite outdoor dining space, with fold-back doors opening from the kitchen onto a timber deck shaded by an awning. Fences are head-high on all sides, so when you sit down at the glass-topped table it feels like a private, sunken food room. There’s a gas barbecue here too if you fancy frying up a few snags (sausages, for those new to Australia). Out the front of the cottage is a similarly sized courtyard. Entry is via secure combination-lock gate, opening onto a white-gravel court with geranium-sprouting window boxes. Another key-pad code will get you in the front door from here.
• Private parking There’s none on site, but parking in the surrounding streets is free outside of business hours (9am–6pm Monday to Friday, and 9am–noon Saturday). Time restrictions (generally two hours) apply during business hours.